A significant number of small business owners, investors, and taxpayers with supplemental income are responsible for making quarterly estimated tax payments to federal and state taxing authorities. Under conventional methods, meeting this obligation requires a taxpayer to remember to make payments according to the schedule set by the taxing authorities as well keep track of the amounts due on a quarterly basis.
If the taxpayer uses a professional tax preparer or certified public accountant (CPA), typically the taxpayer will be provided a supply of pre-printed payment slips or vouchers to be submitted with a payment at appropriate times. Adjustments due to fluctuations in income or other factors must be calculated manually, typically by the taxpayer himself. Generally, the CPA does not keep track of whether and when payments are made by the taxpayer, the amount that was paid out, or details relevant to future payments. The lack of information makes it harder for professional tax preparers to follow up on delinquent taxpayers, and to prepare subsequent tax returns.
The IRS has introduced the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), a mechanism by which taxpayers can make tax payments through an electronic interface. This is only a payment mechanism, like many other online billing and payment services. Most significantly, it cannot and does not proactively prompt a user for payments nor does it provide historical or estimated tax values. Furthermore there are limited means by which a taxpayer's tax and payment history can be tracked.
What is needed, therefore, are ways to automate and improve the management of quarterly tax obligations.